Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Nazanin Fatehi’s Trial is on January the 10th.

Nazanin Fatehi’s final trial will be held at Tehran on January the 10th.

Nazanin was 17 when she was attacked by three young adults in the city of Karaj. Nazanin is accused of killing of one of the men while defending herself and her niece who was 16 at that time.

Currently the International Committee Against Execution as well as Ms. N. Afshin –Jam in Canada, are running a huge campaign to save the life of Nazanin Fatehi. The campaign for saving Nazanin’s life is planning to lunch awareness programs between January first and 10th to draw one more time the attention of the general public to children and teen’s execution in Iran and death sentence in Iran in general and to save Nazanin’s life through international and national protests.

Kobra Rahmanpoor and Shahla Jahed are at the verge of being saved from execution.

Based on the news received by the International Committee Against Execution, the Islamic regime of Iran is close to kneeling down in front of extensive international and national protests against the executions of Kobra Rahmanpoor and Shahla Jahed.

It is now 7 years that Kobra is in prison, accused of murdering her mother in law and sentenced to death. Kobra was working as a housekeeper when she was raped by a man who was older than her father. After complaining regarding the rape, the rapist asked Kobra to marry him. After the marriage Kobra was assaulted many times again. In a dispute with her mother in law, Kobra who was in a position of self defense killed her mother in law who was attacking her with a knife. Kobra was arrested the very same day and was sentenced to death in a matter of few days. The campaign for saving the life of Kobra has been one of the largest and most successful actions in the fight against execution. The Islamic Republic authorities have mentioned that 90% of Iranians are against this death sentence and being under the pressure of massive protests, the authorities are considering nullifying the death sentence.

Shahla Jahed, who is also in prison with murder accusation, is a known figure in the world. Her trials were taped and shown as a movie in many theatres of Holland and have received awards as a documentary movie. The campaign for saving Shahla’s life has drawn world’s attention to the situation of women in Iran and to the “governmental intentional killing”. Right now there is a rumor regarding annulation of her execution order and it is probable that the Islamic regime will be obliged to retreat in this case too.

Delara Darabi, painter, pianist and poet is at the verge of execution

Delara is 19 and is in prison due to murder accusation. She is an artist and her painting exhibitions have been very popular in Tehran.

Currently her family is asking the help of everyone to save the life of the young Delara. Her father is also requesting to move her to another prison as she is being harmed at the prison of Rasht.

Hamzeh, 17 years old is sentenced to death

Hamzeh is only 17. In a quarrel with her boyfriend Mehdi who was 20, she attacked him with a knife. Seven months after the incident while being hospitalized at a hospital in Tehran, Mehdi died. The Islamic Republic of Iran has sentenced Hamzeh to execution. The life of Hamzeh is also in danger.

The International Committee Against Execution is in constant communication with the family and lawyers of these prisoners sentenced to death and is trying to save the lives of them.

The International Committee Against Execution is asking everyone to help save the lives of these young women.

The International Comittee Against Execution has reported that Nazanin's trial has taken place. It was delayed from 10:30AM to 12:30PM, in part due to the fact that so many people showed up in support of Nazanin's campaign. They were required to move court rooms. Normally in a case like this, 10-15 people show up. But today, 200-300 came to support Nazanin and there were many news reporters present. The judges declared that Nazanin had not committed murder; Nazanin's lawyer, Shadi Sadr, said that we must remain cautious until the written verdict is provided in a few days time.

Clearly, though, the pressure has succeeded in pushing back the regime and saving Nazanin's life.